Windcrest taxes being reduced

Published 3:11 pm, Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Just two short years after facing a financial crisis, the city of Windcrest stands on firm financial ground, according to its current mayor and city manager.

And, because of that, they say they are ready to slash property taxes by 25 percent over the next three years, and are determined to eliminate property taxes altogether within seven years.

Mayor Alan Baxter outlined the city's new budget, which includes a tax rate of 43.51 cents per $100 of property valuation, down 2 percent from the 2011-12 budgeted tax rate.

A combination of climbing sales tax revenue, increased court fund payments and a streamlined and more efficient city government already has city officials predicting a 4-percent tax reduction for next year's budget.

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Baxter further announced the city “is locked in” to a whopping 19-percent tax rate cut the following year.

“We plan to continue to reduce taxes each year for the next seven years until the city has zero property taxes,” he said.

Two years ago, the city was a mess. On the heels of the disappearance of nearly $3 million in funds given to the city by Rackspace Hosting for a roadway project, the city's longtime city manager was indicted for embezzlement and its city secretary fired for her alleged role in monetary shenanigans.

But current sales tax revenue has increased 10 percent a year over the last two years. 2012 sales tax collection total $2,618,226 through August, compared to $2,210,635 in 2011 through August — an 18 percent increase, officials announced.

The budget proposal shows a “rainy day” (cash balance) fund of $1.844 million, up from $1.343 million last year.

The budget maintains $564,632 for capital improvement projects and $300,000 for street maintenance and repair.

In addition, the city has $1.1 million more reserved for street outside of the rainy day fund, $75,000 earmarked for alleys, and $200,000 for parks and recreation.

All Windcrest full-time employees will receive a $1,200 stipend check the week before Thanksgiving while part-timers will receive a $600 boost.

“It's not government's role to create jobs,” Baxter said. “It's government's role to create the atmosphere that creates jobs.” For the past 18 months,” he added, his administration “has been looking at every single department we can save money on. We're not running (the city) like a conventional government, we're running it like a business.”

Cuts in staffing played a major role in savings, as workers were moved to different departments, cross-trained to broaden their roles and rightly rewarded with the stipend checks, he said.

“The key was the way the staff was restructured. That played a major role in this,” the mayor said. “If you work hard and we don't have to hire more staffing, then they can rest assured. As a result, they work harder, they are more productive, because they know we're going to give them that stipend.”

City Manager Rafael Castillo referred to the city's seven-year plan to lower the tax rate as one of the major components of the savings.

“If you put $1 million into your streets each year, and $300,000 into your parks each year, and practice preventative maintenance and upkeep, you never get to the point where you're going to need millions to fix your streets,” he said.

Baxter added the council debated the tax cut, but he said he “didn't want to overcharge our citizens as we drop taxes, because if you make the necessary improvements, your home values go up,” he said. “As we lower taxes, our home values will increase and once you increase the demand on your city, home values increase.”